The Marlins and Reds staged a mini Home Run Derby on Sunday afternoon in their series finale at the Great American Ballpark. With five home runs and seven strong innings from Ricky, the Marlins took their first series at the Great American Ballpark since August of 2005.
Bronson Arroyo and Ricky Nolasco each had difficulty keeping the ball in the park in their seven innings on the mound. The Reds and Marlins traded two-run shots in the first, when Hanley Ramirez finally hit his first home run of the season, and Cincinnati answered back with a Jay Bruce dinger that tied the game at 2-2.
The Fish hit their second long ball of the game in the top of the second, a Greg Dobbs solo shot to give the lead back to the Marlins.
Ricky settled in after the first and managed to keep the ball in the park until the bottom of the sixth when yet another home run tied the game. Brandon Phillips went deep to make it 3-3.
Arroyo also settled down after the second inning, but he ran into trouble once again in the seventh. After a leadoff single by Greg Dobbs, John Buck hit the Marlins' third home run of the game to give the Fish a 5-3 lead.
Nick Masset replaced Arroyo in the eighth inning, but he didn't fare much better at keeping the ball in the park. Mike Stanton hit a two-out solo shot, and after Dobbs walked and Buck singled, Fish fans had to pick their jaws up off the floor when Emilio Bonifacio hit the Marlins fifth homer of the game--the first outside-the-park home run of his MLB career--to give the Malrins a 9-3 lead.
Randy Choate and Clay Hensley took care of the eighth inning respectably, but Brian Sanches struggled to put the Reds away in the ninth. With one out, Chief gave up two singles and a walk to load the bases, and Chris Heisey doubled in two runs before Sanches was pulled and Leo Nunez came on to finish off the Reds.
The Marlins have taken their first series in Cincy in six seasons, Hanley ended his home run drought, and the least likely of all Fish to go deep actually did just that. I think it's safe to say the Fish reversed the curse of the GABP.